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#OpProtectAndServe – Police won’t visit even if your home was burgled because of budget cuts while MPs give themselves a pay rise, take drugs and, rape & murder children – everyone else gets less while MPs get more – oh, guess what, it’s a crime to fight back – pigs at the trough

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Chief Constable Sara Thornton with the Star of Ishtar/Star of Venus on her head

A symbol of human and child sacrifice

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Now police won’t visit even if your home was burgled: Chief constable says public expectation needs to change as forces shift focus from ‘traditional’ crimes because of budget cuts

Police chief: Burglary victims should not expect police to visit their homes

Chief Constable Sara Thornton claimed public expectations had to change

Forces needed to shift their focus away from ‘traditional’ crimes, she said

Feeling among police chiefs now that ‘something has to give’ on frontline

Chief Constable Sara Thornton (pictured), the £252,000-a-year head of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, said burglary victims should no longer expect police officers to come to their homes

Burglary victims should no longer expect the police to come to their homes, one of the country’s most senior officers said yesterday.

Chief Constable Sara Thornton, the £252,000-a-year head of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, said public expectations had to change in the light of budget cuts.

Forces needed to shift their focus away from ‘traditional’ crimes, she said – admitting that officers might not call round for offences such as an iPad being stolen by intruders.

‘Crime is changing in this country,’ she said. ‘There are a lot less burglaries than there used to be and a lot less car crime.

‘The sorts of crimes that are on the increase, sexual offences, concerns about terrorism, cyber crime, that’s where we really need to focus. We need to move from reacting to those traditional crimes to thinking about focusing on threat and harm and risk and really protecting the public.’

Mrs Thornton’s comments reflect the growing mood among police chiefs that ‘something has to give’ among frontline policing.

Many feel that spending cuts have left them struggling to provide the services millions of people expect, although crime is at a record low. But critics warned that the impact of a burglary remains ‘devastating’ and victims need long-term reassurance and support.

Above all, they said, those who have suffered at the hands of thieves want to know police are determined to catch those responsible.

Speaking to the BBC, former Thames Valley Police chief Mrs Thornton said: ‘What we are saying is if we are really serious about putting a lot of effort and resource into protecting children for example, that might mean that if you’ve had a burglary and the burglar has fled, that we won’t get there as quickly as we’ve got there in the past.

‘Of course we will still want to gather evidence, but we might do it in different ways.’

Pressed on whether an officer will always attend a burglary victim’s home, she said: ‘Our budgets have been cut 25 per cent over the last four years.

‘We are anticipating those sorts of cuts again. Over ten years we will have lost about 70,000 posts and I don’t think it’s possible for us to carry on doing what we’ve always done.

‘Because we will just fail the public but also we will cause unacceptable stress among our officers and staff. I think in terms of the threat to children from sexual offences, from sexual abuse, from online abuse, I think that’s what we’ve got to prioritise.’

Chief constables will pay close attention to the comments by Mrs Thornton, the head of the organisation that replaced the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO).

The former Thames Valley Police chief said public expectations had to change in the light of budget cuts to frontline policing and said forces needed to shift their focus away from ‘traditional’ crimes (file picture)

She will be at the vanguard of police reform over the next few years amid simmering tension among police chiefs, who are under pressure to continue traditional beat policing while tackling new threats from cyber crime to child slavery.

They are braced for more difficult years as the Government holds a tight rein on budgets and the numbers of officers and staff fall.

But Lucy Hastings, of Victim Support, said burglary victims deserve the highest levels of service from police. She said: ‘Victims tell us that they suffer far more than lost possessions when their home is burgled.

‘There can be a lasting effect on the whole family and victims often feel violated as their home is no longer a safe haven. It’s so important that all victims have access to the practical help and emotional support they may need to cope and recover from crime.’

Criminologist Liz Yardley, of Birmingham City University, said victims are being ‘lost’ in the row over police priorities.

She said: ‘Attending the scene of a burglary is significant for victims – it shows that someone actually cares about the burglary and that someone wants to take steps to catch the perpetrator.

MPs have been given a 10 per cent pay rise – a week after George Osborne imposed a 1 per cent pay freeze on all other public sector workers.

The increase – from £67,060 to £74,000 – will be back-dated to May 8, the day after the General Election.

Confirmation of the pay rise was announced by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa), the expenses watchdog, after weeks of wrangling over the controversial move to hand MPs a 10.4 per cent hike at a time when most workers have suffered years of wage stagnation.

David Cameron said in 2013: ‘The idea of an 11% pay rise in one year at a time of pay restraint, I think, is simply unacceptable.’ This view is shared by David Cameron, who has said the idea of a pay rise at a time of pay restraint “is simply unacceptable”. But he is likely to face a public outcry as pressure mounts on him to intervene to block the pay rise and a petition calling on him to stop it has attracted more than 450,000 signatures.

Defending its decision, Ipsa said there was never a good time to give MPs a pay rise and delaying the decision further could end up causing another “disaster” similar to the expenses scandal in 2009.

“No-one can be in any doubt that consideration of MPs’ pay is a toxic issue,” the statement from Ipsa said. “A thousand and one reasons can be advanced for putting it off.

“There is never a right time to do anything. But putting it off for decades led ultimately to disaster in the form of the expenses scandal of 2009. What we are putting in place will settle pay for a generation.”

The decision by the Ipsa, the Commons watchdog, comes after weeks of arguments over the controversial move following the election Ipsa’s confirmation of the pay rise came after it published a final public consultation in May, which stated it would go ahead with the move unless “new and compelling evidence” came forward.

Politicians have lined up to pledge not to accept the pay rise, including all four Labour leadership contenders. Yvette Cooper reiterated her promise to turn down the pay hike. “I won’t take it,” she said. “If that is impossible then I will put the money towards something like funding an apprenticeship or similar cause in my constituency. But I hope the Prime Minister does the right thing and intervenes to stop IPSA pressing ahead with this.”

Among those who wrote to Ipsa to voice their opposition to the move were Alan Johnson, the former Labour cabinet minister, Gloria de Piero, Labour’s shadow minister for women and equalities and Lib Dem MP Tom Brake.

Those who wrote to Ipsa supporting its decision to give MPs a pay rise included foreign office minister Tobias Ellwood, who said in his letter: “I know I speak for the silent majority (who are not millionaires) to say this increase is well overdue… I hope common sense will prevail and this pay rise will be honoured.”

In his letter he said he “never expected to be watching the pennies at my age and yet this is what I now have to do,” explaining that he would be earning “far more than I am now,” if he was still in the Armed Forces.

The letter Tobias Ellwood wrote to Ipsa backing the 10 per cent pay rise for MPs The TaxPayers’ Alliance, described Ipsa’s decision as “inappropriate”. Its chief executive, Jonathan Isaby, said: “This unaccountable body is doing our MPs a great disservice: the invisible quangocrats at Ipsa may have made this regrettable decision, but the public will inevitably direct their anger at their elected representatives in Parliament.”

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